International Journal of Occupational Hygiene
Volume:14 Issue: 1, Mar 2022

Response time management is one of the most critical issues for firefighting organizations in the process industries. Thus, in emergency response success, it is of particular importance to apply an appropriate method to identify, prioritize, and manage factors influencing response time. The current study aimed to determine factors affecting firefighters' response time in Iranian process industries. Therefore, firstly a Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) was performed for firefighting emergency response-related activities. Then, time influencing factors for each task were determined. Finally, we chose the importance of each influencing factor and its priority based on the Fuzzy Chang approach. The results showed that factors, including the proper location of the firefighting truck, wearing and adjusting the breathing apparatus (BA) strap, and crowded at the scene had a significant impact on the response time to fire alarms. The related weights were equal to 0.049, 0.0485, and 0.0481, respectively. On the contrary, the wrong size of protective ensembles, BA weight, and height of car chassis factors were not significant in the response time. Their weight was equal to 0.0003, 0.002, and 0.0073, respectively. The results showed that the Fuzzy Hierarchical Task Analysis Approach (FHTA) could be used to identify and prioritize the factors influencing firefighting response time.

A driver's health status may have a crucial impact on the prevention of road accidents. This study was conducted to investigate drivers' health status and its effects on road accidents among drivers of heavy vehicles in Iran. A cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the health status of 200 heavy vehicle drivers selected via a two-stage cluster sampling approach from occupational medical centers in Tehran Province, Iran. The related data were collected using the standard drivers' safety and ergonomics questionnaire, body map work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) questionnaire, and drivers' medical records at occupational medical centers. Data were statistically analyzed by SPSS v.21 and Microsoft Excel 2016. Body mass index results classified 69% of drivers as overweight, and 19.5% as obese. 88% of drivers were stressed out and 35% were dissatisfied with their jobs. On average, 63% of drivers showed unsafe behavior while driving, and 80% had levels of WMSDs in 9 body regions. For the drivers with and without accidents, the mean and standard deviation values of hearing loss were 18.20±14.84 dB and 35.45±18.65 dB, respectively. In 79.3% and 75.9% of drivers who had accidents, respectively, their right and left visual acuities were smaller than 10:10. In 55% of the drivers, the status of the main pulmonary function variables was abnormal. The study group had high levels of fasting blood sugar (FBS), total cholesterol, and triglyceride, by 22.5%, 29%, and 26%. There was a significant positive relationship between the number of accidents and loss of hearing and drivers' age. There was also a significant negative connection between the number of accidents and visual acuity, respiratory health, exercise hours, safety, and health training. The results of the present study showed that occupational stress, unsafe behaviors, ergonomic factors, loss of hearing, visual acuity, high blood FBS values, weak respiratory system, and lack of safety and occupational health training were among significant contributors to road accidents. Hence, given the importance of heavy vehicle driving, it is suggested to check out drivers' occupational health and safety more often that ever.

Regarding significant number of the people affecting by factors, such as gas poisoning, microbial, and heat exhaustion in mineral hot spas, the present study was conducted aimed at providing a model for measuring and managing the risk of using hot mineral spas. In this research, a conceptual model of risk was prepared in four stages. Firstly, 16 qualitative parameters were extracted, their effect weight of which was obtained based on the amount of risk for users was determined by fuzzy analysis method. According to the amount and standard range allowed for each parameter, quantitative and qualitative risk categories were obtained in five ranges for each parameter based on the obtained weights and opinions of the health experts. Then, the final result regarding risk of using each spa was obtained by combining these parameters. For assessing risk of using hot mineral spas in Ardabil province by the method invented in this research, at first, water samples were collected from six spas in different parts of Ardabil province. Then, risk management of six spas was evaluated. According to the results, the Qotursuyi spa had a high level of risk, the spas of Shabil, Gavmishgoli, and Qinarjeh had a moderate level of risk. Under responsible risk management, natural hot springs present a renewable resource for sustainable tourism development on a long-term basis.

Since nurses spend most of their working time indoors, the quality of the hospital environment has a great impact on their performance and comfort. The aim of this study was to investigate the combined effects of physical factors in the workplace and shift work on physiological parameters and blood factors in nurse staff of a specialty and sub-specialty hospital in Tehran. The present study was a cross-sectional study conducted on 300 nurses in a specialty and sub-specialty hospital in Tehran. In order to collect the data, a demographic questionnaire was used. The physical factors of the workplace were measured using the sound level meter, lux meter and WBGT meter. A digital blood pressure monitor and heart rate monitor were used to measure physiological parameters and Blood factors were collected from the results of medical records (blood CBC). Finally, the data were analyzed using SPSS-20 software. The results showed that the level of sound in the workplace, as the most important physical factor, can increase the level of physiological factors, and the sound was the most effective factor in the investigation of combined effects. The results also showed that shift work has a great impact on physiological parameters. Blood factors and physiological parameters showed a significant difference between subjects with shift work and day work (P-value <0.05). Due to the importance of nurses' health as the main foundation of the health system, it is necessary to carry out intervention programs and more detailed studies and research on the combined effects of physical factors in the workplace by controlling lifestyle and genetics.

Anyone who owns a vehicle has certainly dealt with a dead battery at least several times in his/her life, however he/she might not know the hidden hazard of explosion of a battery. Therefore it is very important to know proper handling of battery to prevent a battery from exploding. This study is intended to inform people on proper battery handling, causes of an explosion, and how accident investigations can be conducted. To do this, this work will present information that informs people on causes, investigation, and corrective measures in battery use. The main methods used in this work are research, published literatures, and analysis that will aim to create awareness that is easy to understand. This paper will cover causes of battery explosions, techniques used in investigations, and preventative measures. The expected results of this paper are to find multiple reasons why a battery may explode, various techniques used in investigations and find ways that prevent a battery from exploding.

Cognitive failures are one of the main reasons for nurses' inattention and reduced patient safety in hospitals. This study aimed to investigate the cognitive failure characteristics in nurses of Al-Zahra Hospital in Isfahan. For this purpose, a cognitive failure questionnaire was provided to nurses working in this treatment unit. After analyzing the data obtained from the questionnaires, the Mann-Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used. Based on the results of the Kruskal-Wallis test, there is no significant difference in the average of cognitive failure between different age groups (=4.77, p=0.18), different wards (=3.47, p=0.62), different employment statuses (=0.16, p=0.92) and different work experiences (=0.63, p=0.72). According to the results of the U Mann-Whitney test, statistically, between male and female nurses (Z=-0.77, Sig.=0.43), single and double occupational nurses (Z=-0.59, Sig.=0.55), nurses with different education (Z=-0.38, Sig.=0.702), different working hours (Z=-0.65, Sig.=0.51), being under psychiatric treatment and not being under psychiatric treatment (Z=-0.20, Sig.=0.83), the experience of mental illness in the last 6 months and the absence of such experience (Z=-0.53, Sig.=0.59), there is no significant difference between having a chronic disease and not having a chronic disease (Z=-0.93, Sig.=0.35) in terms of the average of cognitive failure. According to the results of this study, the studied parameters do not have a significant effect on the incidence of cognitive failures and therefore do not play a role in the occurrence of disorders in thinking, concentration and attention of nurses. Therefore, the cognitive failures that occurred in Al-Zahra Hospital are related to other parameters.

Due to the human errors in control rooms with a high socio-economic, we aimed in the present study to investigate the probability of human error in some of the Iranian industrial control rooms. In the current study, the related articles based on keywords were reviewed using Google Scholar, Scopus, Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, Magiran, SID, and IranDoc databases from the years 2010 to 2021. The used search terms were "human error", "human failure", "control room", "industry", "human error assessment", "safety management", "Error analysis"  and "human error probability". A comprehensive article review process was conducted to get the required data. To evaluate the quality of the reviewed articles, the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) checklist was used. Out of 22 articles that were qualitative for analysis, 14 articles (63.6%) were related to process industries, and 8 articles (36.4%) were related to other industries. The Cognitive Reliability and Error Analysis Method (CREAM) and the Systematic Human Error Reduction and Prediction Approach (SHERPA) techniques were mostly used compared to the other 10 techniques used in the articles.  In order to identify errors in the process industries’ control rooms, CREAM method, execution failure (31.72%-55%), interpretation failure (18.57%-29.20%), SHERPA method, action errors (48.62%-67.64%), and checking errors (11.61%-31.97%) were the main types of errors identification methods.  Although, in other industries, using the SHERPA method, action errors (38.08%-58.80%), checking errors (29.40%-39.04%), Human HAZOP method, delete errors, and performance errors were the main types of errors identification methods in the control rooms.  The results of studies in control rooms showed that human error had a significant share in the occurrence of accidents. However, we were witnessing less attention among Iranian industries such as rail and nuclear.

Most construction workers, including operators and engineers, suffer respiratory injuries due to exposure to hazardous materials and particulate matter (PM). This review article presents a brief overview of previous research on respiratory diseases in construction sites and links it to the COVID-19 epidemic, trying to explain other possible routes of coronavirus spread. The purpose of this review study is to find other methods of coronavirus transmission in construction sites. To achieve this goal, on the one hand, the literature on the spread of COVID-19 disease was reviewed. On the other hand, by reviewing the literature related to the health of construction department workers, we find that people who work in this occupational class suffer from respiratory diseases after a while. Therefore, they are at high risk for coronavirus. The next step is to review the literature on the effects of COVID-19 on the bodies of people with a history of respiratory disease. It is found that these people are at risk of death. It seems that transmission is not limited to known methods such as sneezing and coughing. In addition, the virus can be spread by dust and airborne particles. Due to the special conditions at the construction site, there is a higher probability that the coronavirus will be transmitted between individuals and employees. Obviously, the infection of individuals can cause irreparable harm and economically affect the construction industry.